iSAM Funds UK Ltd Sells 3,511 Shares of The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR)

iSAM Funds UK Ltd cut its stake in The Progressive Co. (NYSE:PGR) by 66.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock after selling 3,511 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd’s holdings in Progressive were worth $422,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in PGR. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC grew its position in Progressive by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 3,695 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $885,000 after purchasing an additional 40 shares during the period. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Progressive by 54.7% in the 4th quarter. Atlantic Edge Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 116 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 41 shares during the last quarter. Washington Trust Bank grew its holdings in shares of Progressive by 4.1% in the fourth quarter. Washington Trust Bank now owns 1,066 shares of the insurance provider’s stock worth $255,000 after acquiring an additional 42 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp increased its position in Progressive by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. SYM FINANCIAL Corp now owns 1,602 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Monument Capital Management lifted its holdings in Progressive by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Monument Capital Management now owns 13,762 shares of the insurance provider’s stock valued at $3,298,000 after acquiring an additional 44 shares during the period. 85.34% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CIO Jonathan S. Bauer sold 1,696 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $282.66, for a total transaction of $479,391.36. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive now owns 26,697 shares in the company, valued at $7,546,174.02. This trade represents a 5.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO John P. Sauerland sold 10,000 shares of Progressive stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $268.59, for a total value of $2,685,900.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 248,024 shares in the company, valued at $66,616,766.16. This trade represents a 3.88% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 39,894 shares of company stock valued at $11,020,097. Corporate insiders own 0.34% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

PGR has been the subject of several research reports. StockNews.com lowered shares of Progressive from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Bank of America raised shares of Progressive from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $312.00 target price for the company in a report on Monday, April 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Progressive from $267.00 to $287.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Roth Mkm boosted their price objective on shares of Progressive from $290.00 to $315.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and issued a $288.00 price objective on shares of Progressive in a research note on Thursday, April 17th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Progressive presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $288.24.

Progressive Stock Down 1.0%

PGR opened at $285.37 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $167.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.31. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $275.68 and its 200 day moving average is $262.29. The Progressive Co. has a fifty-two week low of $201.34 and a fifty-two week high of $292.99.

Progressive (NYSE:PGR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 16th. The insurance provider reported $4.65 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.28 by $0.37. The business had revenue of $22.21 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $21.87 billion. Progressive had a return on equity of 33.79% and a net margin of 11.25%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Progressive Co. will post 14.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Progressive Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, April 11th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 3rd were paid a dividend of $0.10 per share. This represents a $0.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.14%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 3rd. Progressive’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 2.70%.

Progressive Company Profile

The Progressive Corporation, an insurance holding company, provides personal and commercial auto, personal residential and commercial property, business related general liability, and other specialty property-casualty insurance products and related services in the United States. It operates in three segments: Personal Lines, Commercial Lines, and Property.